Line rushes: Ducks vs. Blues

ANAHEIM – Staying disciplined will be on the agenda for the Ducks when they host the St. Louis Blues on Friday night at Honda Center.

The Ducks lost their cool and their focus Wednesday in their 4-0 loss to Toronto. The Maple Leafs wound up with six power plays, which they didn’t score on against the NHL’s top penalty killing team.

But it also contributed to throwing the Ducks’ forward lines and defense groupings out of whack. And they’ll get a challenge from St. Louis, which likes the physical game and has the best power play on the road at a 29.2 percent success rate.

“Well, we’ve talked about it,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I think that was more of an aberration, us taking six penalties, than it is the norm. We’ll just suck it up a little bit.

“But when you’re playing St. Louis, you know it’s a man’s game. You know it’s a physical game. And we just can’t do some of the things we were doing.”

Penalty killing is the one thing the Ducks have excelled at all season. They are the best by far at 89.1 percent and the splits at home and on the road are equally impressive.

Boudreau has consistently lauded assistant Trent Yawney with their success in that area but also credits the addition of Carl Hagelin to a group of natural killers like Ryan Kesler, Jakob Silfverberg, Andrew Cogliano and Shawn Horcoff.

St. Louis is fourth on the power play (22.2 percent) and its most dangerous threats with the man advantage are Vladimir Tarasenko, Kevin Shattenkirk and David Backes.

“Their power play doesn’t depend on one guy because they’re a shooting power play,” Boudreau said. “They get it, they shoot it and then they work off of that. And then they get the big guys to go in front of the net and get the dirty goals.

“We can’t take penalties. But if we do, it’s a great test for us.”

John Gibson (8-5-2, 1.75 GAA, .929 SV%) will start in goal after Boudreau deemed him good enough to play following Thursday’s practice. Gibson left in the first minute of the third period against Toronto after being run into by Leafs center Nazem Kadri.

Boudreau shuffled up his defense pairings against the Maple Leafs, somewhat out of necessity after Josh Manson picked up a 10-minute misconduct. The Ducks didn’t go through line rushes in their optional morning skate.

Jiri Sekac will get back in the lineup after being scratched for three straight. Mike Santorelli will come out, with Boudreau saying the forward didn’t suffer an ill effects from being driven head-first into the glass by Toronto defenseman Roman Polak.

The Blues (23-14-6) have stumbled a bit of late as they come in with a four-game losing streak. The last two have been overtime defeats to Ottawa and Colorado.

Normally tight defensively, St. Louis has allowed three or more goals in its last six games. Not surprisingly, the Blues’ record is 1-3-2 over that span.

Vladimir Tarasenko has kept on rolling though. The dynamic winger has goals in two of his last three games and his team-leading 24 is also tied with Dallas’s Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin for tops in the entire NHL.

“I don’t know if anybody really slows him down,” Boudreau said. “It’s containing him. Knowing where he is all the time. Playing above him -- the phrases that coaches use. And just taking his time and space away.

“He can stick-handle in a phone booth. But at the same time, if you eliminate him, he’s not going to be going anywhere.”

Jake Allen (18-10-3, 2.17 GAA, .924 SV%) has emerged as the lead goalie for the Blues after jockeying with veteran Brian Elliot for the last two years. Allen has not gone more than a game without playing since the first week of the season.

Alexander Steen (13 goals, 24 assists) is having another solid season while Paul Stastny (three goals in 27 games) has been erratic offensively after coming back from a broken foot. Stastny does have an assist in five straight games.

Patrik Berglund returned to the lineup on Jan. 2 after missing the first three months to recover from shoulder surgery. Jaden Schwartz (broken ankle) has been out since the middle of October and Steve Ott (hamstring) is expected to be out until the early part of February.

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